(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to an improved strut spring compression tool employed in compressing coiled springs of shock absorbing struts for installation or removal of the struts in and from machinery. In particular, the present invention pertains to an improved strut spring compression tool having a load screw for adjusting the tool to compress a strut spring, where the load screw is provided with a stop block on the screw that limits the extent that a strut spring may be compressed by the tool, and thereby prevents inadvertent damage from being caused to the tool during use.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Strut spring compression tools of the prior art are typically comprised of pairs of arms that are attached to opposite sides of spaced coils of a strut spring and are then adjusted toward each other to compress the spaced coils of the spring. The arms of each pair of arms are provided with hooks at one end that engage over opposite sides of spaced spring coils. The opposite ends of the arms from the hooks are pivotally connected to a base member of the tool. A bearing cross head and a threaded cross head span the space between the arms of each pair, and a load screw extends between the cross heads associated with each pair of arms. One end of the load screw is mounted for rotation on the bearing cross head and the screw thread of the load screw is threaded through a complementary internal screw threaded bore provided in the threaded cross head.
By rotating the load screw in opposite directions of rotation, the two cross heads are adjusted toward and away from each other and the two pairs of arms associated with each cross head are likewise adjusted toward and away from each other. In this manner, spaced coils of a strut spring may be compressed toward each other by turning the load screw in a direction that adjusts the cross heads of the tool toward each other. The compressed spring may then be allowed to expand to its at rest configuration by rotating the load screw in the opposite direction and adjusting the relative positions of the cross heads away from each other.
In prior art strut spring compression tools, it is possible for adjacent coils of a strut spring being compressed to engage against each other, or for the pairs of arms of the tool attached to the coils of the spring to engage against each other, while turning the load screw to compress the strut spring. With adjacent coils of the spring engaged against each other, or with the pairs of arms of the tool engaged against each other, any continued turning of the load screw can result in damage to the strut spring compression tool in the form of bending of the cross heads spanning the pairs of arms or in the arms themselves being bent.
What is needed to overcome this disadvantage of prior art strut spring compression tools is an improved strut spring compression tool that is adjustable to compress the coils of a strut spring to a set degree of compression beyond which further compression is prevented, thereby avoiding exerting any potentially damaging forces on the arms or the cross heads of the tool.